monkey see, monkey do

The other night Gracey comes running into the room where I am and says, in her cute little voice....."What are you making me for dinner, woman!".
I stopped, and looked at her her, and she smiled and said, "I just teasin' mom. That's what dad-dad says. But I just teasin'."
Thanks for that, Davey!!! :) Little ears are ALWAYS listening....

funny girl

The other night Davey wasn't home when I put Gracey to bed. When she woke up the next morning he was already gone to work. Later that day I picked her up and here's how the conversation went:
her- where's daddy
Me- he's at work
Her- he's STILL at work!!!!! Oh. My. Gosh. What a BAD job!!

Fingernail polish Fiasco

For all who do not know my niece Abby, let me just say it would be safe to say she is the true meaning of the word "menace". She is in to everything at all times if you don't have a constant visual on her. Definitely keeps my sister on her toes. This past week we were back home for her 3rd birthday. One day while my sister was at work, my mom and I were at her house with the kids. Mom had Emma, I had Ally, and the girls were in Payton's room playing. (That was the first mistake...never leave Abby unsupervised...bad things can happen!) Well a few minutes go by and I notice that it's awfully quiet....too quiet when there's an Abby in the house....that was mistake number 2. About that time, here comes Gracey down the hall, she stops in front of me with her eyes as big as quarters and says "Mom, wook." She has been painted from the knees down in purple fingernail polish. Then Abby appears with that Chester Cheetah grin on her face, her hands completely painted, her arms and legs painted, and her feet painted as well. "I did it!" she exclaims, quite proud of her masterpiece! I run to Payton's room only to find fingernail polish all over his carpet. I immediately called Paige to find out if there was any fingernail polish remover in the home, only to find out that no, they used it all the LAST time Abby did that a couple of weeks ago! Oh Abby!!!! She never learns. To make the story even better, for her birthday a couple of days later her Aunt on her dad's side of the family got her some little girl's fingernail polish! Oh good!!!!!!!! Just what she needs.

What's that, mom??

Anyone that knows me, knows that when it comes to cleaning the house I verge on being just a little OCD. I'm constantly doing something around the house that relates to cleaning....I just can't help it. However, the one household chore I despise is ironing! I cannot stand doing it; I really loathe it! Having said that, I rarely do it. In fact, I do everything in my power to avoid it. I have probably ironed a handful of times in Gracey's entire life....that's how bad it is. Today, while I standing there ironing my pile 0' clothes that heaped up over the months I thought of a few months back, which by the way was the LAST time I ironed. That particular day I was standing there ironing away when Gracey comes barreling through the house. She stopped dead in her tracks and said, "What's that mom?". I immediately busted out laughing at the sight of my 2 year old having NO idea what this thing was that I had, while Davey just looked at me and said, "that's really sad Lacey". Sad or not, it is definitely the one thing I hate to do........and after all these years I don't think anything is going to change that. :)

Bottle 'em up!

I can hardly believe my kids are 2 1/2 and 5 mths old. The time is going by so quickly! Ally is starting to do so many things now....she's trying to sit up on her own, is getting up on her knees and rocking back and forth, and is starting to babble sweet little sounds. She thinks Gracey is one of the funniest people in the world and laughs at everything she does. Gracey can come in the room and Ally's little arms and legs just start going as fast as they can and she breaks out into this huge smile that takes up half her face! It's precious. Gracey seems like she is getting older everyday and amazes me at some of the things she says. I know I'm just a little partial, but I think she's very smart for her age! ;) Today my younger sister was over and said, "Can you not wait until Ally is Gracey's age and Gracey is 4." And I said, "No way. I don't want them to grow up. I want them to stay just like this forever." I really do think if I could just bottle them up and keep them like this always I would. I love every minute of it! I know that I'm always going to enjoy them no matter what the age and each age brings something new, but I just love the stages that they are in right now.....I wish it would never end!!! Every day is an adventure. They definitely make life more exciting!

Thank you God for Pablo....

Since Gracey was 6 mths old one of her favorite things has been The Backyardigans from Nick Jr. She absolutely loves Pablo, the blue penguin. She probably has every toy they make! For Christmas Santa brought her a fleece blanket with Pablo on it and it has been her favorite since. It's the one thing she hates to share. She takes to bed with her every night and cuddles with it when she's laying around. This morning while I was making her bed she had it wrapped around her and she said "I wuv my Pabwo bwankie" and then a few seconds later she was sitting down and I heard her say, "Tank you God for Pabwo and tank you for my Pabwo bwankie". It made my day...her sweet innocence is precious. It brought back memories of a few months ago when she was saying her night time prayers one night after we had been counting money in her bank; that night she said, "tank you God for quarters....."! Precious.

Water Park Adventure

The other day we took Gracey to this water park down the road from us called NRH2O. It has big water slides, but it also has a lot for little kids to do as well. Some friends of ours have season passes for their kids, and invited us to come along. It was our first time there. Gracey had a blast!!! After she walked around and scoped it all out first (that's so her personality) she decided it was ok and jumped right in. She played in kids area, went down the small water slides, played in the wave pool, and floated down the lazy river. I couldn't even get her to stop for lunch; I think she had 2 bites of a sandwich and wanted to get back out there! She cried when we had to leave, and I promised her we would go back one day. It was so much fun, and even though I didn't get to do any of the "big people" slides b/c I was watching her, I had the best time. There's just something about seeing your kids having the best time ever and watching the excitement show on their little faces. It was great! I'm thinking next year we'll have to think about investing in some season passes for there too; we have them for Six Flags, and didn't think we would need them for the water park since we have a pool, but I don't know.....that will definitely have to be reconsidered!

A confession

Ok, I must confess my greatest weakness.....those Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies. (Not the ones that have the nuts on the top; no, they have to be the ones that have the little chocolate colored candies on the top. My mouth is watering just thinking about them!) I don't know what it about those things that I can't turn down, but when they are in my sight....I devour them. For this reason, I just don't buy them. I can't even remember the last time I actually purchased a box, b/c I know myself well enough to know that I have no self-control!!! However, the other day Davey went to the grocery store for a few things (why is it when you send your husband out for 3 or 4 things he comes home with 7 or 8 bags of groceries?) and he came in with a box just for me. (oh thank you honey, you know I will consume the entire box....and I am still trying to lose the rest of my "baby weight") He says to me, have a little self-control! (Let's think about this, last time they were in my house you hid them,I searched until I found them, and I ate all of them all by myself!!!) Well, it's been 4 days and I am proud to say I have only had one brownie a day!! This is actually a good thing....I could definitely eat more than one a day....I'm just practicing a little "self-control". So there you have it- my greatest weakness....yes, as sad as it may seem, it is Cosmic Brownies. In fact, all this thinking about them has made me want one. I'll go have one right now! :)

Night-night

Right after Ally was born I went through this "thing" where I thought Gracey needed to start going to sleep by herself at night (she currently requires me laying with her until she falls asleep, and then I leave). I even went through the whole process a few nights of phasing myself out of her room, even though she cried the whole time, until she fell asleep. I finally decided "forget it" and went back to laying down with her, convincing myself I would try it all again at a later date. Then, a few weeks ago I was sitting with my younger sister and mom at the kitchen table, realizing my sister was about to graduate high school and wondering where has the time gone. Then I started thinking about how in what will seem like the blink of an eye I will be sitting there looking at Gracey about to graduate, wishing these days back of laying in bed with her until she falls asleep. The truth is, that's really one of the favorite parts of my day. I LOVE snuggling with her in her bed, with her all cuddled up next to me, her little arm around me and feeling her breath on my cheek! It's the absolute best. So I've decided I shouldn't even worry about her going to sleep on her own (she is only 2 1/2 anyway). It's really not that big of a deal, and one day, not too long from now I know I'm going to wish these nights back! So, I'm going to continue to lay down with her at night until she falls asleep.....and I'm going to love every minute of it!!!

Saw this and loved it!

A Mother’s Prayer
Dear Lord, It's such a hectic day with little time to stop and pray. For life's been anything but calm since You called me to be a Mom. Running errands, matching socks, building dreams with matching blocks, cooking, cleaning, finding shoes, and other stuff that children lose. Fitting lids on bottled bugs, wiping tears and giving hugs. A stack of last week's mail to read, so where's the quiet time I need? Yet, when I steal a moment, Lord, just at the sink or ironing board to ask the blessings of Your grace, I see them, in my small one's face. That you have blessed me all the while --And I stoop to kiss that precious smile.

Here goes nothing!!

Well, I'm going to try this whole "blogging" thing out. I'm not quite sure how it's going to work, or if I will do it on a consistent basis or not, but I'm giving it a try anyway. Hopefully, this will help keep our family and friends who aren't with us everyday a little more informed on our lives and our kid's lives. Hopefully I will find time to post things on here, but you never know with a two and half year old and an infant! I hardly find time for much of anything these days! But, I thought I would give it a go and see what happens!